Honoring America's Veterans,
High School Essay Competition
Hosted by Honoring America’s Veterans
2026 Essay Contest
Wednesday, Nov 11th, 2026
Compete against hundreds of students and submit your essay today.
This year's theme will be 250 Years of Freedom, 30 Years of Honor
The essay competition closed at midnight on September 25th, 2026 and all submissions were due at that time.
Competition details
- Students must attend an Arizona high school in grades 9-12.
- Homeschooled students of high school age are also eligible.
- Entries must be 350-400 words long.
- Entries must be submitted online on the Honoring America’s Veterans website.
- Submission must include information requested on the submission form.
- You must certify on the submission form that you did not use AI (CoPilot, Chat GPT, etc.) to write your essay.
- Attach your essay in doc, pdf, etc.
- Essays are due in September 28th, 2026 at noon MST.
Winners Receive
- Cash prizes ($250.00) to each first-place winner in grades 9-12.
- Cash prizes ($250.00) for your classroom teacher.
- Celebrate your essay win as you ride in the HAV Veterans Day Parade, where your achievement will be announced to the community.
- Your winning essay will be printed in 5000+ parade programs, and you will receive other souvenirs.
Entries will be judged on the quality of the story and its impact, writing and grammar, and adherence to the theme.*
All submitted essays become the property of Honoring America’s Veterans.
Essay Contest Entry 2026
We are no longer accepting essay entries and would like to thank everyone from across the state who submitted their amazing essay!
Honoring America’s Veterans announced the winners of the 2024 High School Essay Competition. More than 140 high school students entered the contest, which required students to write a 300-400 word essay based on the theme of the HAV Veterans Day Parade in Phoenix.
THANK YOU
We salute our veteran’s and their loved ones in thanks for their patriotism & service to our country.